Vittorio and Giovanni glanced at each other, but Stefano kept watching him, unblinking, knowing there was more. He always knew.

“I need this woman. It isn’t just about wanting her, and I know that’s wrong. I know it should be about want, not need, but I’m not going to make it without her.” Stefano had to know it was that bad. Admitting it didn’t make him feel very good about himself, but then he hadn’t for a long, long time.

“You worried she isn’t going to like your relationship with the Lacey twins?” Giovanni asked. He wasn’t being sarcastic: it was a legitimate question and they both knew it.

“No, she’s not going to like that or any of the other stupid things I’ve done, but hopefully we can get past that with the help of all of you. Francesca and Emmanuelle, I’m really counting on the two of you to make friends with her.”

“Of course,” Emmanuelle said.

Francesca echoed her, nodding, but now both women looked worried. He couldn’t blame them. He was never nervous. Never. He was still looking at Stefano, and by now, all of them were aware of it and they were looking at the head of the family as well. Stefano hadn’t said a word. Just waited. Because he knew. He always knew.

“What’s wrong?” Francesca voiced what they were all wondering.

“There’s a host of small problems, ones that are of my own making, and it’s up to me to convince her I’m worth taking a shot with, even though I’ve got the worst reputation in the world.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “The biggest problem is that she’s a shadow rider and I’m fairly certain she’s here to kill me.”

Emmanuelle gasped. Francesca reached for Stefano’s hand. He remained immobile, still as a statue, his gaze never leaving Ricco’s. He held up his hand for silence when the others began to all talk at once.

“You’re positive she’s an actual rider?” he asked, his voice strictly neutral.

“There’s no way to be positive,” Ricco said. “She was too good at what she did. Acting nervous. I knew she was totally aware of me, that the connection between us hit her just as hard. I know when a woman wants me, and the physical attraction was definitely mutual. What woman wouldn’t flirt just a little? She didn’t. She has tremendous courage. She actually allowed me to tie her wrists. I could tell it was terrifying to her, but she went through with it. The pins in her hair were definitely not women’s normal hairpins. Still, there’s no way to be certain. The only thing I can tell you is that I just knew.”

“We know every family. If she’s a rider, we’ll know of her,” Stefano said. “I can reach out…”

He shook his head. “Wait. I need you to wait.”

“Why wouldn’t she just kill you without ever showing herself?” Vittorio asked.

He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“Are you guilty of something we don’t know about?” Stefano asked. “Something that would put you in the path of a rider?”

A shadow rider carried out justice when the law couldn’t. Always, always, they had to be certain, which meant a thorough investigation of the facts.

“She would have to be one of the Archambault family. There is a female rider. They’re the only riders allowed to go after another shadow rider family,” Stefano said.

“She’s not French.” Ricco took a breath. “I have to tell you. It’s time, but Stefano, we have to be very careful, otherwise we’re going to end up in a war and everyone will lose.”

He didn’t want to tell them the truth of what happened in Japan, yet he did. It would be such a relief to get the entire mess off his chest. To know that his family would look over their shoulders instead of him guarding them night and day would be a relief. Telling the truth would be liberating in a lot of ways.

“Start talking, Ricco.” That was Stefano, all business.

“The riders are different in Japan. When we train other riders, we welcome them as family and treat them as we treat one another. There, riders from other countries are looked down on – especially the ones from the United States. We’re considered lazy and undisciplined.”

He didn’t know if he was making excuses or just needing to find a place to begin. The entire sordid affair had been bottled up for far too long. Wrapped in guilt and fear for his family, he had stayed silent until he almost didn’t know how to tell them what had occurred.

“No matter what we did or how hard we worked, those of us who weren’t from the families there were never acknowledged, not even during the tournaments. It pissed me off. I have a temper and I got into a lot of fights proving myself, beating the crap out of some of the boys from the host families. Of course, that just proved to them that I was undisciplined and not fit to be a rider.”

It was still painful, those memories. He’d trained harder than anyone else, and it hadn’t mattered. “If I defeated the sons of the host families, if I beat their times riding the shadows, or in any way bested them, it was never acknowledged, but the boys were punished and the hatred and bitterness grew for all the other riders training, in particular me and one other rider – a female. You can imagine what it was like to be a female rider there where the women were supposed to wait on their men and be subservient to them. She was never considered as good, and the boys were mean to her.”

“What country was she from?” Vittorio asked.

Just his voice was soothing. Vittorio, the peacemaker. Vittorio, the brother who always seemed to bring calm and sense in the middle of any storm.

“That’s the thing, she was from Japan. Right there. She was the daughter of a council member. I didn’t stay with her family, none of the foreign riders did. Her mother had died and her father was a former rider, he didn’t go out on any jobs anymore. Her grandmother was very mean and ugly with her and the other kids. She put our parents to shame.”

“Name,” Stefano said abruptly.

Of course he would get down to the facts immediately. Nothing was going to get by him. Nothing ever did.

“Her name was Akiko Tanaka.”

Stefano nodded. “She came from a fierce line, but they’re all gone now. She was killed in a car accident along with the last of that lineage, her father and grandmother. I think three other riders, sons of some of the best families there, died as well. One survived, but was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It was a horrible tragedy.”

Ricco shook his head. “None of them died in a car accident. I killed the three riders and put the remaining one in the wheelchair.” He dropped the bomb right into the middle of the room. No one moved. No one spoke. They all just stared at him, shocked. There was absolute truth in his voice, and he knew they all heard it.